Chapter 148
Chapter 148
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 148
Chapter Title: Angry Dragon
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“Perfect finale, Adel.”
Kaden extended his hand with a leisurely smile.
But without even glancing at it, I pushed off the ground and hauled myself up.
Swish—
Forcing my trembling legs to straighten, barely steadying my wobbling body.
I swept away a large leaf obscuring my view with my hand.
A breeze swept past.
Leaves scattered on the wind, and behind them—
“How about it? Beautiful, isn’t it?”
With Kaden’s words, a landscape unfolded before my eyes.
The world tree piercing the heavens, soaring endlessly upward.
On a scale incomparable to the other trees standing tall in the great forest.
Not a forest, but a single colossal world standing on its own.
Gazing at that overwhelming spectacle, a wave of dizziness briefly washed over me.
“Hey~ First Place, congrats on last—”
Seros, who’d been bounding over from afar, spotted me and snapped his mouth shut mid-grin.
Then… his expression flipped completely.
“Whoa… what happened to you?”
It was the reaction you’d give a zombie, not a person.
…My white hair was entirely soaked in blood, dyed red.
Just a bit of red on my hair and body, and he reacts like I’m a monster…
Seros even grimaced, backed away, and tripped over his own foot.
I sighed inwardly and opened the abyss to pull out a handful of water.
Splash!
Water summoned from the abyss.
I dumped the whole basin over my head.
“Oh dear, Adel. Could you be more careful?”
And…
Kaden, standing beside me, got drenched in the splash in an instant.
His face bore an aggrieved look screaming ‘What did I do wrong?’, but I played dumb.
My situation was more urgent.
“First Place! You’re back!”
Once the blood and dirt washed away, revealing my original white hair, Seros spread his arms and approached again.
And all too naturally, he slung his arm over my shoulder.
That was the moment.
“──!?”
It was like electricity shot through my body—every nerve screamed at once.
A flash of pain as if my bones and muscles were snapping together, breath catching, but I swallowed the scream bubbling up in my throat.
Seros blinked in confusion at me flinching wordlessly, shoulder twitching.
“Whoops.”
The instant he pulled his arm away, my legs gave out—
Thud.
I face-planted into the ground again.
“First Place?”
Then, Seros picked up a nearby twig and started poking my body, wondering if I’d turned zombie again…
[Asshole]
Seros yanked the twig away and beamed as I shuddered and choked back a curse.
“Oh, you’re alive, First Place.”
And…
- Screeeeech…!!
- Kyaaack!
From afar, Lapia’s spirits charged with shrieks of rage.
Straight at Seros.
And that scene… needed no explanation.
The spirits, howling in fury, unleashed flames all at once toward Seros—the guy who’d just been poking my body.
***
A little time passed.
By now, even the sensation of the ground and my face getting intimate was starting to feel familiar.
“…You okay?”
Rev’s voice reached my ear.
She was holding my hand, steadily channeling holy power into me.
Thanks to that holy power, my limbs were barely clinging to my body, though I was half-dragging on the ground.
Splash—
My shadow turned to abyss wherever it touched the earth.
Thanks to it, I wasn’t bashing my head on rocks or scraping along the dirt—creating a strangely graceful sight of me being dragged.
I managed a few words to Rev.
[I feel like I’m dying]
“…You can’t die.”
[I’ll try]
Turning my gaze sideways…
There was someone else being dragged just like me.
“Saintess. I feel like I’m dying too.”
[Die]
Seros, charred pitch-black all over.
Miraculously still humanoid, but closer to a lump of charcoal.
Like someone had forcibly molded charcoal into human shape.
Smoke wasn’t just my imagination wisping off him.
“First Place. Scratch my head for me.”
Seros was bound hand and foot, dangling from a rope being dragged along, while Rev impassively tugged it.
I, meanwhile, was being carried by my hand—totally different conditions.
And that difference showed immediately.
“Guh.”
A heavy thud.
Seros’s head smashed into a pebble on the ground.
“Saintess… could you drag me a little gentler?”
His head already sported several lumps—clearly on the worst terms with the ground.
Seros pleaded…
“…I’ll consider it positively.”
But Rev’s response was just that.
At least she’d consider it positively.
“Saintess. Don’t just consider—actually do it…”
“…….”
“Saintess?”
“……….”
Seros’s face grew more despairing by the second, while I just silently dragged along, watching.
And soon—
“What’s up with that one.”
“Third Place. Calling a person ‘that’ is rude, you know.”
My vision cleared.
We’d arrived at a massive lake where the rest of the group had gathered.
And nearly everyone… was staring at us in turn, mouths half-agape.
Or more precisely—
Seros was being treated as sub-lifeform, while I got slightly kinder looks for still resembling a human.
“Alright, everyone, listen up!”
Clap.
As Kaden clapped once, scattered gazes converged.
No one had shared what they’d seen in the great forest’s darkness, but the mood suggested they all felt the same.
“I’m sure you have lots of questions…”
Kaden slowly scanned the surroundings.
Fatigued students’ faces, especially Seros’s soot-black char, drew a brief flicker of pity from him.
“But for today, let’s rest.”
Kaden raised his hand, pointing behind him.
A spot in the darkening great forest.
There stood a mansion—dim exterior, but subtly luxurious.
It didn’t look lived-in from any angle.
“See it there? You’ll stay in that place for the next month.”
A beat later.
Kaden added with a smile.
“You all did great! Thanks to you, I lost the bet!”
“……?”
The word ‘bet’ tilted several students’ heads at once.
But exhausted as they were, no one bothered asking—just stared blankly at the mansion.
And soon…
They silently started toward it.
“Wow, bigger than our house.”
“Shut up.”
“Third Place. Please refrain from yanking the rope with emotion.”
The rope dragging Seros had passed from Rev’s hand to Lapia’s.
Rev needed to walk with me, and Lapia had smirked mysteriously at the sound of Seros scraping the ground and taken the rope.
And…
Creak.
The mansion’s door swung open suddenly.
Kaden waved nonchalantly.
“By the way, second and third floors are your rooms—use them freely.”
With that, Kaden…
Creak.
Shut the door and vanished.
“…….”
The group stood dazed for a moment before snapping out of it.
Violet spoke up as representative.
“Uh, underclassmen~ Student council takes the third floor, so you guys use second~”
“Huh? Violet, who said—”
“Let’s go, Carnel!”
Carnel wanted to argue, but Violet grabbed her wrist and whoosh—
Sliced through the air and vanished in an instant.
“Hmm… so that’s how it is.”
“Third Place. Can you untie me now?”
Seros winced and yelped “Ow” with every stair step.
I slowly stood, leaning on Rev’s support as we headed to the second floor.
“Yaaawn…”
Neru yawned, sidling up beside me at some point.
Normally he’d tug at me demanding churu…
But now he walked with that signature cat slump.
Eyes half-lidded.
Tail drooping.
Fatigue oozed from toe to tip.
“Hmm… all the rooms are identical.”
Rooms lined the long hallway.
Lupus opened each one, checking.
“So we can just pick any?”
“That’s right, Third Place.”
I moved first, before he even finished.
The farthest end of the hall, the most cornered room.
I peeked inside, entered, and set down my luggage.
Not that I had any real luggage.
“…….”
Rev went into the room right next to mine, and Neru slipped into the one directly across.
“Nyaah…….”
Neru let out some incomprehensible noise, but cat-speak translated roughly to ‘Churu…….’
And so Class S naturally claimed spots on the second floor.
Doors clicked shut one by one, quieting the hall.
But I…
“Hey, heathen.”
“?”
While scouting every nook of the mansion.
Erwin abruptly approached me.
“You… saw that meteor shower spell earlier, right?”
[I don’t know]
“…….”
Erwin immediately furrowed his brow.
The instant reply, no hesitation, clearly irked him.
“Tch.”
With a tongue-click, he walked off without another word.
‘What the.’
I tilted my head slightly but decided to keep exploring the mansion.
The more I looked, though, the stranger it felt.
Too normal.
No hidden beasts, no traps.
Just a straight-up mansion, true to its name.
“…What’re you doing?”
Rev’s voice from behind.
On the second floor, in front of the corner room I’d claimed.
I’d been leaning by the window, gazing down at the forest.
[Sightseeing?]
“…Your body?”
[Feels okay]
“…Good.”
[Thanks to you]
I said it was fine…
But truthfully, my body was still screaming.
Plus, thanks to Caramel’s prototype, the 【Stigma】 pain was postponed to tomorrow.
Move any more, and I might really end up in a coffin.
[Sleep well]
“…Yeah.”
Creak.
Next to Rev’s room, I entered mine.
And face-planted straight onto the bed.
Rustle—
I stared blankly at the ceiling, then opened my status window.
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
[ Adel ]
Limit Breakthrough: ★★☆☆☆
Attributes
: 「Abyss」
: 「Space」
: 「Phantasm」
: 「Nothingness」
Achievements
: 【King of the Abyss】
: 【Sword that Sheathes Rage】
: 【Falling Moon】
: 【Dreamer】
: 【Know Thyself】
: 【To the Immortal You】
: 【………】
Stats
: Physique: 17 (D)
: Strength: 5 (F)
: Intellect: 30 (A)
: Mentality: 33 (A)
: Mana: ■ ()
Talents
: 【All talents fixed at ‘Lowest’ due to 「Stigma」.】
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
Stronger now, clearly?
…Hard to say.
But I focused on the fact that I’d ‘grown’.
That was enough.
‘Ugh, fuck.’
I curled up tight, thinking of the 【Stigma】 pain that’d hit tomorrow morning.
The shivers… just my imagination.
Must be the cold weather.
‘Enjoy it.’
This counts as experience too…
Lying to myself, I slowly closed my eyes.
Creak.
“Hey, you bastard.”
The door flew open suddenly, and an inexplicably pissed-off dragon…
Level 999 Veronica burst into my room.
“…….”
I had no choice but to forcibly summon my dying will and open my eyes.